Linguistica Silesiana

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the role of phraseological units (PhUs) in discourse and to investigate their co(n)textual dependency. The paper presents a typology of the lexical and phraseological units, labelled as co(n)textual supports and developed by Olza y Losada (2011): expressions that paraphrase the initial phraseological meaning; expressions that highlight a specific component of this meaning; lexical and phraseological units that are synonymous with the 'central' phraseological expression they co-occur with; and lexical and phraseological units that are antonymous with the 'central' expression. These units orient and specify the use and interpretation of PhUs. The analysis also focuses on the so-called markers of phraseological units that function as (quasi) PhUs that serve to introduce phraseology within discourse in a (more or less) explicit way and have pragmaticdiscursive value (cfr. Olza 2013). The last part of the article examines some PhUs whose implicatures can be affected by contextual circumstances and characterized by greater dependence on the general context of the statement despite showing some degree of conventionalization.